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In Python, functions are first-class objects that can be created and passed around dynamically. Python's limited support for anonymous functions is the lambda construct. An example is the anonymous function which squares its input, called with the argument of 5:
The names "lambda abstraction", "lambda function", and "lambda expression" refer to the notation of function abstraction in lambda calculus, where the usual function f (x) = M would be written (λx. M), and where M is an expression that uses x. Compare to the Python syntax of lambda x: M.
Java has no first-class functions, so function objects are usually expressed by an interface with a single method (most commonly the Callable interface), typically with the implementation being an anonymous inner class, or, starting in Java 8, a lambda. For an example from Java's standard library, java.util.Collections.sort() takes a List and a ...
This leads to duplicating some functionality. For example: List comprehensions vs. for-loops; Conditional expressions vs. if blocks; The eval() vs. exec() built-in functions (in Python 2, exec is a statement); the former is for expressions, the latter is for statements
The Java syntax has been gradually extended in the course of numerous major JDK releases, and now supports abilities such as generic programming and anonymous functions (function literals, called lambda expressions in Java). Since 2017, a new JDK version is released twice a year, with each release improving the language incrementally.
In the untyped lambda calculus, where the basic types are functions, lifting may change the result of beta reduction of a lambda expression. The resulting functions will have the same meaning, in a mathematical sense, but are not regarded as the same function in the untyped lambda calculus. See also intensional versus extensional equality.
As of Java 8, Java supports functions as first class objects. Lambda expressions of this form are considered of type Function<T,U> with T being the domain and U the image type. The expression can be called with its .apply(T t) method, but not with a standard method call.
To apply such a function object, one must use the funcall function: (funcall #'foo bar baz). Python Explicit partial application with functools.partial since version 2.5, and operator.methodcaller since version 2.6. Ruby The identifier of a regular "function" in Ruby (which is really a method) cannot be used as a value or passed.